The Good, the Bad, and the Downright Ugly

Cloud Computing:

Clive Longbottom,

Service Director, Quocirca Ltd

2012 Year of the Cloud?

High levels of confusion Just what is cloud computing? Major areas of concern End-user experience Security Business models Too much choice Where are the real cloud standards? Inertia My applications are OK, thanks
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The vendor view

201* will be the year of: Private cloud SaaS The cloud aggregator Public cloud services Whatever. The end result is hybrid.

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The Hybrid Cloud and the Business

Large partner

Hybrid cloud covers: Private cloud In-house Co-lo Public cloud Commercial Free Existing systems Physical Virtual Hosted

Remote or small partners, clouds and other service providers

Public Cloud

Dedicated links

Private Cloud
Quocirca 2012

Central Organisation

Cloud perceptions
It is a complete game changer that will transform how IT and organisations work together It will be an important part of my organisations IT platform along with existing approaches

Source: 800 respondents

Quocirca/Oracle research 2011

It is purely a simple evolution of earlier technology approaches

It is just a passing fad to be overtaken by something new in a few months time It has no place in the future of my organisations IT platform Don't Know

4Q2011

1Q2011

0%
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10%

20%

30%

40%

If you are going to adopt cloud, what best matches your plans? Source: 800 respondents
Quocirca/Oracle research 2011

We will use a mix of internal and/or external private clouds, mixed with public cloud services as required We will use private clouds using external data centre facilities We will create one or more private clouds to support the organisation, butnot use public clouds

4Q2011 1Q2011

We will only adopt public external cloud services

We have no plans to adopt cloud

Don't know

0%
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10%

20%

30%

Cloud security

Source: 800 respondents

Quocirca/Oracle research 2011

Cloud security is no different to other IT security

Security needs a different approach but will be easy to deal with

Security is an issue - but no more than other areas Security is top of mind while looking at cloud Issues around security are a showstopper Don't know

4Q2011 1Q2011

0%
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10%

20%

30%

Cloud security
Slow move in perceptions Its not about the platform Its the information that matters Taxonomise Prioritise Encrypt at rest and on the move See security as an enabler not a constraint

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End-user experience

Source: 500 respondents

Quocirca/DynaTrace research 2012

Optimising the performance and availability of applications Private cloud deployment Data center virtualisation Making more use of public resources

Hybrid public/private cloud deployments

Optimising the lifecycle processes surrounding application development and delivery Optimising performance and availability of 3rd party code/frameworks Deploying new internal applications Providing more visibility into business transaction metrics (e.g. bookings and revenue)

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0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

EUE actions
Use end-to-end measurements Use MOS for applications not just VoIP Keep data and business logic close together Use hybrid virtualisation models Wide area network acceleration Packet shaping Traffic management Caching

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Consumerisation
Lock down is no longer an option An individuals choice of device is a lifestyle statement Device standards are dynamic Screen size Function Adoption of industry standards de jure and de facto Device lifecycles are compressed 12-18 months is common

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Dealing with consumerisation

Virtualise Use the device mainly for viewing Sandbox Abstract the function Define minimum standards What capability is necessary? Airlock and enforce Install anything that is missing

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The death of the application?

We have a problem with our customers Buy a CRM application Why? Applications can be inflexible, constraining Do it my way Cloud offers many different functions Better domain expertise Better focus

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The process approach

We have a problem with our customers Why? Where? Address the issue Wrong type of prospect? Not getting full value? This is a process issue not an application one Get the process right Apply technical functions to support the process

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Licensing
Cloud is not necessarily a subscription-only service Do you still want license plus maintenance? Cloud can cover a lot of different approaches PaaS you maintain control over a lot of the stack IaaS you maintain control over the software application/main functions SaaS You are probably looking at subscription E/XaaS you are almost definitely looking at subscription Its a dynamic environment go for what fits your needs Beware vendors with per core licences!
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The need for aggregation

No single cloud provider can be a complete one stop shop Options are: Dont use cloud Use one cloud provider with all other functionality provided and integrated in-house Use multiple cloud providers and integrate on a oneby-one basis Use multiple cloud providers with one being a prime contractor responsible for integration Use a specialised cloud aggregator to deal with all cloud integrations

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Plan A
Carry out gap analysis between where you are and where you need to be Identify what existing applications and functionality can be saved Identify what is missing Decide on where the missing functionality should come from Choose method of aggregation Implement, review and change as needed

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Plan B?
How to deal with lock in? What if internet connectivity is down? What to do when a component of the chain changes functionality? What to do around changing business models? What if any part of the chain goes bust?

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Conclusions
The Good side of cloud is that it is more efficient, more dynamic and more capable of supporting the business The Bad side of cloud is the lack of de facto standards and too many emerging de jure standards

The Ugly side of cloud is the poor offerings, capabilities and overall messaging of many of the vendors involved
Cloud will be a game changer just make sure that you go in with your eyes open

Quocirca 2012

More information
Reports referenced in this presentation: Oracle NGD Research, Cycle II http://quocirca.com/reports/654/ Cloud Computing Taking IT to Task http://quocirca.com/reports/498/ Contact me on clive.longbottom@quocirca.com

Quocirca 2012